


Little Ghost

by nishiki



Series: Thistle and Weeds [15]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Caring siblings, Child Klaus Hargreeves, Child Vanya Hargreeves, Childhood, Discovery of Powers, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ghosts, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Good Parent Grace Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, Light Angst, POV Klaus Hargreeves, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Luther Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Scared Klaus Hargreeves, Siblings, Spooky, Stuttering Diego Hargreeves, child Allison Hargreeves, child Ben Hargreeves, child Diego Hargreeves, child Luther Hargreeves, child Number Five, powers, secret hide-out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 02:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19039069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: When Klaus Hargreeves is four years old, he believes to be completely ordinary. All his siblings have already discovered their powers. Only he seems to be normal. That would all be fine and dandy too if there were just not so many people inside the house and if his siblings would stop pretending that there was no one there.----------Can be read as stand-alone





	Little Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> So, that's the last little fic I planned for now (which does not mean shit for my hyperactive brain). Anyway, that means I am open for suggestions or request as long as they may fit in this series of fics. Hit me up either in the comments or on my Tumblr <3 <3 <3

**March 1994**

 

He had always been the odd one out. That was not new to Number Four. For some reason, he just didn't quite fit in. He was different from his siblings and couldn't quite tell why. It just was what it was. Number Four didn't care about what his siblings said either. He didn't care for the little taunts Five or One would spout at him sometimes to annoy him or simply to be a little mean. He had Two and Six on his side at the very least. He liked Two and Six the best anyway.

Number Six always comforted him when he was sad and they liked to play together in the bathtub. He was funny and nice. Number Two was just … He was Number Two. He was his big brother. Father didn't like it when he would call him that. He would stare down on him with a frown and remind him that they had all been born the exact same time. As if he needed to be reminded of that. Still, Number Two was his big brother just like Number One and just like Number Three was his big sister. He was the baby of the family. That was at least what Five once told him with a cocked eyebrow.  Number One, Two and Three were meant to be the ones who would protect the rest of them. Well, Number Two was protecting him anyway.

He was always there when Four would get himself in trouble with Five or Three. He would be the sturdy brick wall between him and whatever sibling Four had angered that day. Unless it was Number Two whom he had angered. In that case, Four could only try to run as fast as the wind and hide somewhere dark and spooky.

Number Two didn't like spooky places. Number Four didn't mind them.

Today, actually, was such a day where he had to hide from his big brother in a spooky place. His best hiding spot was the basement because Number Two was afraid of the basement. He wouldn't say it, of course, because he always felt the need to act all tough and cool but Number Four knew the truth. In fact, Number Two was mostly afraid of the spiders that were creepy crawling all over the place down here. He didn't mind them as much. At least down here, it was cool and quiet. Far away from the summer heat upstairs and the noise of all the people rummaging the halls.

Whenever he would complain about the noise those strangers around the house made, his siblings would look at him as if he was crazy and then one of them would claim that it was only them, only their family, in the house. Of course, Number Four knew that they were all just playing a prank on him. Last year they had pretended he was invisible for an entire day. They had completely ignored him and never looked at him until he had almost been sure that he really was invisible.

For a brief moment, he had been joyous at the thought that this might be his power and that he had finally discovered it. Joy had soon turned into horror, though, as he had seemingly been unable to shut this power off. He had been devastated at the thought that he would spend the rest of his life invisible - a ghost, pretty much. The natural reaction for any three-year-old child was to start bawling their eyes out thinking, of course. When his siblings had then revealed to him that it had only been a prank, he had cried even harder than he had initially at the thought of being invisible forever.

Needless to say, one year later his powers had still not revealed themselves to him. That prank his siblings were playing on him was going on for a few weeks now. Just as long as those people were filtering into the house and going after their own business without paying any attention to either of the children. His siblings might pretend that they weren't really there but he wouldn't be fooled again by them. They would tire of this charade soon enough he just had to be patient and until then down here it was blissfully quiet.

In all honesty, he didn't understand just why his father allowed all those strangers into the house. They were loud and sometimes a bit rowdy. Some of them didn't even speak English and some of them would yell profanities which Number Four didn't dare to repeat.

Number Four had, by now, carved out some little corner a little farther away from the wooden stairs that were leading up to the kitchen. At some point, he had brought down a few old pillows and blankets that he had found in one of the many unused rooms in the attic and built himself a little fort down here between the wooden shelves that held mostly pickles and other cans. From his position, he could see a can of the soup that Number Seven liked the most. Tomato, he thought. Tomato with little noodles shaped like letters.

He had only brought his favorite stuffed animal with him. Father didn't allow them many of those little cuddle buddies but every one of them had at least one fluffy companion. Number Two had his cuddly blanket _Sir Blankelot_ , even though he tried to act as if he was too cool for it now that he was four years old - almost five. Number One had a fluffy monkey plush he would take everywhere and dream up space adventures with it. His name was Monty. Monty the Monkey.

Number Three had a nice looking stuffed doll, Ella, with beautiful dark curls just like her. She was always changing the clothes on her because Mom would so often sew a new outfit for the doll. Five had his big stuffed penguin which he refused to name but always told to stay in the room and behave when he would leave his bedroom. Number Six had a really cool red dragon plush that would sometimes roar when he would push against a certain spot on its belly. He had named the dragon Susan because Number Six was just weird like this. And Number Seven had a giraffe for some odd reason. It just was what it was and who was he to question it? She loved her giraffe Stanley as much as Number Four loved his sheep.

He took his sheep everywhere.

»I forgot the teacups, Nellie.« He sighed as he pressed his best friend to his chest. »Now we can’t have a tea party, Buddy.«

The sheep looked at him in disappointment. Of course, he felt guilty now. After all, he had promised his best friend a tea party. Now what? He could not possibly go upstairs again. Number Two was still mad at him. Maybe he should not have annoyed Number Two so much Today. Two had a bad day, after all.  He had lost a tooth this morning and Four had caught him crying about it. Since then, Number Two was out for blood.

Down here he was a lot safer. Knowing his brother, he was probably camping out on the other side of the basement door and waited for Number Four to be foolish enough to leave his hideout. Well, the joke’s on him. Number Four could survive an eternity down here. He would just eat canned soups and pickles.

An annoyed little sigh escaped him as he noticed the woman standing in the corner of the room near the staircase. Just a moment ago, she had not been there. He was sure of that. She had her back turned to him, her long curly brown hair cascading over her narrow shoulders.

»Hey, you can't be down here!« Number Four complained. »Daddy says that the basement is off limits!« He didn't quite know what that meant but he suspected that it meant that strangers were not allowed down here. Four, however, did not sign up to be bothered in his little safe haven.

The woman did not move.

»Can you leave?«

There was a sob coming from her. Well, some strange crying woman was really the last thing he wanted to have down here in his little refuge from the world. This was his happy place and he did not want to have his happy place invaded by some random crying woman! Was this really so much to ask for? Wasn’t it enough that their entire house was flooded with random strangers? he could hardly go to the bathroom anymore!

Every time he wanted to go potty, there would be a strange man just standing there. Number One had looked at him strangely today when he first opened the door to the bathroom earlier this day only to close it immediately again. He had asked Four about it and he had told his big brother that the bathroom was already occupied. Leave it to One to check on it as well only to tell him then that there was no one in there while Four could clearly see that man standing in the middle of the room with his back to them.

At this point, his siblings’ little quest to screw with him was just plain mean.

The woman still refused to react to his words and Number Four exchanged a nervous little glance with Nellie. Nellie was not a big help on good days but today he was plain useless. He didn't even try to come up with something! Number Four, though, started to feel more and more uneasy as he looked back at that woman. Her sobs had only increased in volume and now she started to speak. He really wished she wouldn't have started to speak.

»Not fair.« The woman sobbed. There was something off about the words, though. He couldn't tell what it was at first but then he started to realize that it wasn’t English. He could understand her though. It was as if she was talking in a different language but his brain or his ears were immediately translating it to him. »It's not fair! Not fair!« Her sobs had become almost a wail. Desperate and heartbroken and Number Four didn't like it. He curled up a little more in his little hideout.

For a brief moment, he wanted to go back upstairs despite the threat of Number Two waiting up there to get his revenge on him. However, if he would want to go upstairs, he would need to go past that lady and that he didn't want either. He couldn't quite say why but he was afraid of her. He was afraid of walking past her.

»I’m sorry, Miss but-«

The words died on his tongue as she turned around to face him finally. Her skin was grey and gaunt, her eyes sunken in and underlined with dark circles, her lips so dry that he could see it even from where he was seated but the look in her eyes wild. Green eyes, like his. What a weird thing to notice.

She was dressed in a simple blue and white checkered dress that hung off of one of her narrow shoulders. A thin gold necklace with a small golden cross was glistening in the dim light around her swan-like neck. She was pretty. No, she would have been pretty if not for the expression of absolute sorrow on her face. It took Number Four a moment to realize that she was barefoot and even longer to notice the dark dried blood all over the bottom half of her dress. The black liquid ran down from underneath her dress over her slim legs to her feet like spiderwebs.

In a split second, as her eyes fell upon him, her expression turned from sorrow to absolute fury and she pointed one bony finger at him shaking in accusation.

»You!« She wailed. »It was you! You did this!«

Later, Number Four couldn't recall when he had started to scream for his Mom. He just had. At one point, he had started screaming so ear-piercingly loud for his Mommy that the robot had come running down the stairs.

Apparently, she had found him passed out with blood running out of his nose on his makeshift little nest. As Number Four later woke up in his bed, neatly tucked in with Nellie safely in his arms, he was surrounded by six worried siblings looking down on him and his Mom sitting on the bed with him and carding caring fingers through tangled curls.

He told them under a flood of new sobs what had happened in the basement, his voice hoarse and tight and scratching in the back of his throat. Mom, however, gently placed a hand on his cheek to wipe away the new tears. »Shhh, little Bee.« She cooed calmly. »It was just a bad dream. A bad dream and a little nosebleed. Nothing to worry about.«

He wanted to believe her. Mom never lied to him, right? Moms never lied to their babies. That was just a fact. She had told him that much once. Number Four knew that his Mom would never lie to him. He must have fallen asleep down there. His dreams, as of late, tended to be dark and frightening. It had started around the same time as those people had started to flock to their house.

»Really?« Number Four hiccuped and Grace leaned down to press a soft kiss to his forehead.

»Really.« She promised. »I’m going to make a nice cup of hot chocolate for all of you, okay? Your father is out tonight at a banquet. So why don't you all put on your pajamas and we meet downstairs for cookies and hot chocolate.«

Only then Number Four noticed that the world outside of his window had become darker. How long had he been out? He nodded quietly and his mother rose from her spot on his bed and left the room. Hot chocolate and cookies always made everything better. His siblings, however, stayed behind for another moment.

»You scared us.« Number Six muttered nervously, playing with the hem of his uniform shirt like he always did when he didn't know what to do. Number Four thought, for a moment, that if he had superpowers like his siblings then maybe he wouldn't always have such horrible dreams.

»You screamed so loud we thought someone was gonna murder you.« Five added with a stern frown on his face. Five had never been good at comforting his siblings. He cared and Four knew this but he wasn't good at showing it. Five usually liked to keep to himself or spend his time with Seven and Six. Four always seemed to be the odd one out.

»C-Can you stop now?« Number Four finally pleaded with his siblings as he slowly sat up in his bed.

»With what?« Number One asked concerned and exchanged a glance with Three at that. Those two didn't really need many words to communicate with each other.

»P-Pretending like there is no one in the house.«

He noticed the worried glances that his siblings exchanged with each other. Number Two seemed completely freaked out by this statement but bit his tongue instead of saying something. Number One seemed at a loss for words and he could tell that Five was already trying to calculate something in his head that Number Four would never understand.

»Sure.« Seven said calmly and took his hand. »We’ll stop, Four. Pinky Promise.«

※※※※※※※

Two nights after that, Number Four was awoken in the middle of the night by someone standing next to his bed - staring down at him. His room was too dark to make out everything at once. The dim light from street lanterns down below his windows filtered in and allowed Number Four to make out the silhouette of the tall figure standing beside him. He could tell that it wasn’t his father. The figure was taller, their shoulders wider. Only as a car drove past the academy and thus past his window, Number Four could make out the details of the figure and, at the same time, he wished he hadn't.

It was a man with long dark greasy hair that hung loosely into his face in an intricate pattern like spiderwebs. His face was deathly pale, his black eyes sunken into his skull, his cheekbones protruding violently against paper thin skin and his mouth a horribly distorted grimace. His clothes seemed old and dusty, he could see spiders crawling all over him. Spiders and … Worms. He was wearing a Halloween costume. That seemed to be the only thing making sense to Number Four at that moment.

He was wearing a very intricate, very detailed and grungy Halloween costume.

It was March, though. Halloween was months away. He knew that because he had asked Mommy if he would be allowed to dress up as a pirate for Halloween and she had told him that they would go shopping for a costume in a few months.

The man just stared at him in the flash of light coming from down on the street. His black eyes fixed on the small boy on the bed and Number Four instinctively pressed Nellie closer to himself. He didn't like that. Something about that was wrong - really, really wrong. His head was hurting but he barely realized that and he was terribly cold.

Mom always left the radiator inside his room on at night because Number Four was always cold but now he could see his breath in front of his face as he let out a startled little gasp. It was too cold inside his bedroom. So cold that he was certain he would see ice creeping all over his window by his bed.

He wanted to get out of bed and run to Number Two’s room next door. Number Two would know what to do about the stranger in his room. Number Two always knew what to do. What if he wanted to hurt him? What if he wanted to kidnap him? Father always warned them that there were people out there who would want to take them away against their will. That was why they were not allowed to leave the house, after all. But why take _him_? He didn't have any powers.

As another car drove by and painted new shadows all over his bedroom walls, that was when Number Four realized that it was not just this one figure standing next to his bed. His entire bedroom was crowded with people and they were all staring at him like a pack of hungry wolves.

It seemed like an eternity that Number Four only lay in his bed, frozen completely solid in his fear and shock, staring out of wide eyes at those demonic figures all over his room. Hours seemed to tick by without him blinking or breathing. He didn't dare to blink because maybe they would do something in the split second of him closing his eyes. He didn't dare to breathe because maybe the small sound would startle those people into action.

In his entire life, Number Four had never been so scared before. He might die, Number Four wondered without fully grasping what that would even mean. Father had explained the concept of death to them all a while ago. Dying meant the end of one’s existence on this planet. It meant their bodies would be put in the ground and their soul moving on to Heaven or Hell. He still didn't quite understand it. Five had seemed to get it. Six too.

Four, on the other hand, was completely clueless. Now, however, at this moment, he felt like he understood. He might die. Maybe he had died and that, right here, was what the world after death was like.

And then, after seemingly hours of just staring at the figures inside his bedroom, suddenly there was movement. A figure inching closer to his bed and reaching out to touch his feet that had untangled from the blanket. Number Four quickly pulled his legs up a bit more.

»Can you see me?« The figure asked. Their voice was raspy and paper thin and hollow and Number Four couldn't even tell if they were a woman or a man. Their face, in the dim light of the street lamp below his window, was a mangled mess. One eye hung from its socket, their nose seemed to have been scrubbed off. His stomach turned at the sight and he didn't dare do anything or say anything. He couldn't look away. There was _stuff_ coming out of the person’s stomach. It looked a bit like the tentacles that would come out of Benny sometimes. But different. Wrong.

That was when all hell broke loose in his room. The people started wailing and screaming and yelling. They were calling his name, demanding him to help them in languages he shouldn't be able to understand all at once. They were so loud that Number Four was sure that the entire house needed to hear them. Soon, someone would come to his rescue. Number Two would come and help him. Number One would come and scare those people off. Number Three would tell them to go away. They would come and save him.

No one came. It was as if his siblings didn't hear the screaming and horrible wailing and Number Four could only curl up in the corner of his bed, his legs drawn to his chest and his hands pressed to his ears. They were so loud - too loud - and his head was hurting. He felt as if his head might explode. At some point, he started screaming too.

It took his brother, Number Two, mere seconds to barge into his room and switch on all the lights. The moment he did so, the people in his room were gone. The light, Number Four thought, had just banished them. They had fled from the light like the boogeyman. They had fled from the light and from his big brother and Number Two had saved him. He was at his bedside and then on his bed in an instant, pulling Number Four into his arms without any hesitation.

After that, the true turmoil broke loose. Numbers One and Three were the next to enter his room, Seven filtered in right after them. Five just blinked into existence and wobbled on the spot for a second and Six was the last to arrive. They all seemed so spooked all of a sudden.

»What's going on?« Number One asked and only when Four pried his face away from Two’s shoulder, he noticed that he was carrying that stupid wooden sword that he used to play knights with, ready to attack whoever was hurting his brother.

He felt so dizzy as Number Two slowly extracted him from his arms again and he barely felt his brother’s hands on his face as he wiped tears from his cheeks and blood from underneath his nose.

»He’s burning.« Number Two muttered quietly. »He’s got a fever.«

How was he burning? He was freezing cold. There was a layer of ice coating his entire body. His brother must be mistaken. Or his hands didn't work anymore. One of the two. Number Four let out a strangled sob as he pressed his face into his brother’s warm shoulder again. Number Two was always so warm and he felt always so secure with him.

He barely registered how Six took a seat on his bed. Only when he grabbed his feet and held onto them Four realized that he was there. His hands were warm against his freezing cold skin.

»I go fetch Dad.« Number One announced and before anyone could stop him, he was already running. Number Two didn't draw away this time, only held him close and allowed him to sob into his pajama top while the rest of his siblings gathered around them awkwardly. No one seemed to know what to say or what to do and Number Four was just glad that it was over.

»There were so many of them.« Number Four hiccuped then, after a while. »And they were screaming at me. I don't know why.«

»Who was here, Four?« Five asked calmly but he could hear the nervousness in his tight voice.

»I don't know!« He sobbed louder. Five being nervous was not normal. Five being nervous made him only more anxious. »People! They were here and they were wearing m-masks and Halloween c-costumes and they were screaming and they were angry and they wanted to grab me and t-take me!«

»T-T-There w-w-was n-no o-one h-here, F-Four.« Number Two stuttered.

Number Four wailed louder at this. »You promised you would stop!« He didn't even have enough strength left to hit him in the shoulder for being so mean. His siblings had promised him they would stop messing with him now. And yet here they were pretending as if there was no one here. He would never get why they were so mean to him all the time.

»What is the meaning of this?« His father's booming voice made him jump in surprise and only then Number Two parted from his trembling brother.

»Four had a nightmare.« Three said dutifully and shrunk away from the bed to make room for their father as he approached. He was still fully dressed as if he had not retreated to bed yet.

»It's wasn't a nightmare!« Four shrieked. »It wasn't a nightmare! It was real! They were here! There were so many of them and you are mean! You are all so mean!« This time, he did hit Number Two in the shoulder but his brother barely flinched. He looked at him with wide eyes, though. He seemed completely spooked by his behavior, terrified of him even.

»All of you, out.« Their father commanded. Seven, Three, Six and Five scrambled out right away. No one wanted to deal with their father and his possible anger when dealing with Four. One shrunk back carefully, his wooden sword still in hand but waiting with worried eyes for Two. It took Number Two a moment before he scrambled to get off the bed and Four wished he would stay.

»H-H-He’s g-got a f-f-fever.« He stuttered but avoided looking his father in the eyes before he quickly darted out of the room with One.   

There was a looming figure standing above him right next to his bed, staring down on him. This time, however, it was his father and he studied his shaking form out of cold dead eyes. For a moment, Number Four was just as afraid of his Dad then he had been of the demonic figures in his room. He couldn't tell why but he figured that this was what _instinct_ meant.

»And now you are going to tell me what you saw.«


End file.
